System for generating medical diagnostic images

Abstract

Medical diagnostic images that are embedded with contact messages about a professional are sent to a patient for sharing with others. Although the images may be obtained using any of a variety of imaging devices, in some instances, the images may be obtained using a soft-tissue-injury diagnostic system for diagnosing soft tissue injury within a patient. A visual display is configured and arranged for receiving and displaying the medical diagnostic image. Personalized contact messages are then embedded within the image as a watermark to with information about the professional, such as an electronic business card, contact information, or hyperlinks to additional information. The sharable image with embedded messages is electronically sent to the patient for sharing with others. Personalized contact messages may also be embedded in non-medical images for sharing with others.

What is claimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent of the United States is: 
     
       1. A computing system, comprising:
 a set of hand-held inclinometers for marking and recording measured angles at one or more of a first position and a second position for a joint of a patient's body; 
 a surface electromyograph (“sEMG”) module and a set of measuring electrodes that measure action potentials monitored externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 one or more ground electrodes that are placed against patient skin adjacent to the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes and the set of measuring electrodes are physically located together in a housing, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable when pressed to a compressed position against the patient's skin, within the same housing, independently of the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable to improve simultaneous contact with the patient's skin between the sEMG module and the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes pressed against the patient skin on the exterior of the patient's body, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are configured in an uncompressed position that extends beyond a surface of the housing and also beyond a position of the set of measuring electrodes until the one or more ground electrodes retract from the extended position to the compressed position that is closer to the surface of the housing and one or more tips of the set of measuring electrodes when the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes are pressed against the patient skin, and wherein a tip of each of the one or more retractable ground electrodes and each tip of the set of the measuring electrodes are pivotable from each other tip to maintain contact with contours of the patient's body and skin on the outside of the patient's body, and wherein action potential signals are actively monitored by and data is collected from the inclinometers and the sEMG module for subsequent processing into digital image data; and 
 a computing device that includes one or more processors configured to execute software to perform actions, including:
 installing a contact manager application on the computing device, wherein execution of the contact manager application configures one or more user interfaces based on one or more of the computing system, other applications, and selected contact information for a medical professional; 
 idling the software of the computing device until the patient's body is detected in a final neutral position; and 
 in response to detection of the final neutral position, emitting a voice signal to perform actions, comprising:
 marking a current position of the set of hand-held inclinometers when a user is performing a range of motion (ROM) evaluation of the patient while monitoring the action potentials measured externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 providing voice commands to instruct the patient to perform a given movement during their ROM evaluation; and 
 
 employing a completed ROM evaluation of the patient and the monitored action potentials to automatically determine if the completed ROM evaluation is invalid and determine a correspondence to a nature and an extent of an injury to the patient's body or tracking progress of the injury over time. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the selected contact information includes a selectable link that when selected is configured to contact the medical professional. 
     
     
       3. The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the selected contact information includes at least one of an advertisement or coupon information usable to obtain a discounted service from the medical professional. 
     
     
       4. The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the further modified digital image data is configured to include at least one selectable phone number or email address of the medical professional. 
     
     
       5. The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to perform actions, further including:
 sending to a network device associated with the medical professional, patient contact information about a patient associated with the medical diagnostic image. 
 
     
     
       6. The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the selected contact information for the medical professional includes at least one of a Quick Response (QR) Code, an audio clip, or a video clip that is selectable by a recipient of the further modified digital data image. 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 the computing device that includes one or more processors configured to perform further actions, including
 receiving digital image data for a medical diagnostic image; 
 modifying the digital image data by deleting from within the received digital image data private patient information; 
 selecting contact information for a medical professional associated with the received medical diagnostic image; 
 further modifying the digital image data by embedding the selected contact information into the modified digital image data for the medical diagnostic image, wherein a non-transitory computer readable medium is configured and arranged to store the further modified digital image data; 
 electronically sending the further modified digital image data and embedded selected contact information over a network, wherein the further modified digital image data is retrieved from the non-transitory computer readable medium; and 
 posting the modified digital image data to at least one social networking site. 
 
 
     
     
       8. An apparatus, comprising:
 a set of hand-held inclinometers for marking and recording measured angles at one or more of a first position and a second position for a joint of a patient's body; 
 a surface electromyograph (“sEMG”) module and a set of measuring electrodes that measure action potentials monitored externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 one or more ground electrodes that are placed against patient skin adjacent to the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes and the set of measuring electrodes are physically located together in a housing, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable when pressed to a compressed position against the patient's skin, within the same housing, independently of the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable to improve simultaneous contact with the patient's skin between the sEMG module and the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes pressed against the patient skin on the exterior of the patient's body, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are configured in an uncompressed position that extends beyond a surface of the housing and also beyond a position of the set of measuring electrodes until the one or more ground electrodes retract from the extended position to the compressed position that is closer to the surface of the housing and one or more tips of the set of measuring electrodes when the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes are pressed against the patient skin, and wherein a tip of each of the one or more retractable ground electrodes and each tip of the set of the measuring electrodes are pivotable from each other tip to maintain contact with contours of the patient's body and skin on the outside of the patient's body, and wherein action potential signals are actively monitored by and data is collected from the inclinometers and the sEMG module for subsequent processing into digital image data; and 
 a computing device that includes one or more processors configured to execute software to perform actions, including:
 installing a contact manager application on the computing device, wherein execution of the contact manager application configures one or more user interfaces based on one or more of the apparatus, other applications, and selected contact information for a medical professional; 
 idling the software of the computing device until the patient's body is detected in a final neutral position; and 
 in response to detection of the final neutral position, emitting a voice signal to perform actions, comprising:
 marking a current position of the set of hand-held inclinometers when a user is performing a range of motion (ROM) evaluation of the patient while monitoring the action potentials measured externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 providing voice commands to instruct the patient to perform a given movement during their ROM evaluation; and 
 
 employing a completed ROM evaluation of the patient and the monitored action potentials to automatically determine if the completed ROM evaluation is invalid and determine a correspondence to a nature and an extent of an injury to the patient's body or tracking progress of the injury over time. 
 
 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein sharing of the modified digital image data with the embedded selected contact information comprises posting to a social networking site, or emailing the modified digital image data with the embedded selected contact information to at least one other computing device. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the selected contact information includes a selectable link that when selected is configured to contact the medical professional. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the selected contact information includes information usable to obtain a discounted service from the medical professional. 
     
     
       12. The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein the further modified digital image data is configured to include at least one selectable phone number or email address of the medical professional that when selected, performs actions to contact the medical professional. 
     
     
       13. The apparatus of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 sending to a network device associated with the medical professional, patient contact information about the patient, the patient contact information being configured to enable a follow-up session to be scheduled with the patient. 
 
     
     
       14. The apparatus of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 the computing device that includes one or more processors that execute the instructions to perform further actions, including:
 receiving digital image data for a medical diagnostic image of a patient; 
 modifying the digital image data by deleting private patient information; 
 selecting contact information for a medical professional associated with the received medical diagnostic image; 
 embedding the selected contact information into the modified digital image data for the medical diagnostic image, wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium is configured and arranged to store the modified digital image data that includes the embedded selected contact information; and 
 electronically sending the modified digital image data with the embedded selected contact information over a network to the patient, wherein the modified digital image data that includes the embedded selected contact information is retrieved from the non-transitory computer readable medium. 
 
 
     
     
       15. A system, comprising:
 a set of hand-held inclinometers for marking and recording measured angles at one or more of a first position and a second position for a joint of a patient's body; 
 a surface electromyograph (“sEMG”) module and a set of measuring electrodes that measure action potentials monitored externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 one or more ground electrodes that are placed against patient skin adjacent to the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes and the set of measuring electrodes are physically located together in a housing, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable when pressed to a compressed position against the patient's skin, within the same housing, independently of the set of measuring electrodes, wherein the one or more ground electrodes are retractable to improve simultaneous contact with the patient's skin between the sEMG module and the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes pressed against the patient skin on the exterior of the patient's body, and wherein the one or more ground electrodes are configured in an uncompressed position that extends beyond a surface of the housing and also beyond a position of the set of measuring electrodes until the one or more ground electrodes retract from the extended position to the compressed position that is closer to the surface of the housing and one or more tips of the set of measuring electrodes when the set of measuring electrodes and the one or more ground electrodes are pressed against the patient skin, and wherein a tip of each of the one or more retractable ground electrodes and each tip of the set of the measuring electrodes are pivotable from each other tip to maintain contact with contours of the patient's body and skin on the outside of the patient's body, and wherein action potential signals are actively monitored by and data is collected from the inclinometers and the sEMG module for subsequent processing into digital image data; and 
 a computing device that includes one or more processors configured to execute software to perform actions, including:
 installing a contact manager application on the computing device, wherein execution of the contact manager application configures one or more user interfaces based on one or more of the system, other applications, and selected contact information for a medical professional; 
 idling the software of the computing device until the patient's body is detected in a final neutral position; and 
 in response to detection of the final neutral position, emitting a voice signal to perform actions, comprising:
 marking a current position of the set of hand-held inclinometers when a user is performing a range of motion (ROM) evaluation of the patient while monitoring the action potentials measured externally along one or more patient muscle groups of the patient's body; and 
 providing voice commands to instruct the patient to perform a given movement during their ROM evaluation; and 
 
 employing a completed ROM evaluation of the patient and the monitored action potentials to automatically determine if the completed ROM evaluation is invalid and determine a correspondence to a nature and an extent of an injury to the patient's body or tracking progress of the injury over time. 
 
 
     
     
       16. The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the embedded contact information includes at least one selectable phone number or email address of the professional that when selected, performs actions to contact the professional. 
     
     
       17. The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the computing device having one or more processors configured to perform actions, further including:
 sending to a network device associated with the professional, client contact information about the client usable to enable a follow-up session to be scheduled with the client. 
 
     
     
       18. The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein the embedded selected contact information further includes information useable to obtain a discounted service from the professional. 
     
     
       19. The apparatus of  claim 15 , further comprising posting the modified digital diagnostic image with the embedded selected contact information on a social networking site or on a messaging system. 
     
     
       20. The System of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 an imaging device usable to generate a digital diagnostic image associated with a client; and 
 the computing device having one or more processors configured to perform further actions, including:
 receiving the generated digital diagnostic image; 
 modifying the digital diagnostic image by removing private client information within the digital diagnostic image; 
 selecting contact information for a medical professional associated with the received digital diagnostic image; 
 embedding the selected contact information into the modified digital image data for the medical diagnostic image, wherein a non-transitory computer readable medium is configured and arranged to store the modified digital image data that includes the embedded selected contact information; and 
 
 electronically sending the modified digital image data with the embedded selected contact information over a network to the client, wherein the modified digital image data that includes the embedded selected contact information is retrieved from the non-transitory computer readable medium.